Page 88 of Rejected By the Alpha
“A warrior should be able to protect his mate himself,” I said through gritted teeth and shoved him backward. “Which is exactly why you don’t deserve Ember. You can’t protect her. You couldn’t even protect your mate. Don’t be pissed at me because of your faults.”
For the first time, Cade didn’t have a comeback. He didn’t shove me backward and start another fight. No, he stayed deathly silent and stared through the forest, his jaw twitching. So, of course, I pushed.
“The truth fucking hurts, doesn’t it? You’re not strong enough.”
I knew I was being a dick, way more than usual. But I couldn’t stop myself because I wasn’t in control anymore. My wolf was. And he would do anything he could to keep Ember all to himself. Even if that meant hurting someone I had once called my best friend.
My hands were balled into fists, and I tried hard to keep my cool because we still hadn’t gotten closer to finding Ember. “You were so pissed at me that you left our pack and our packmates to join this fucking joke of a secret society.”
“I wasn’t pissed at you,” he growled.
“Then why? Why the fuck would you leave us?”
“I was pissed at myself for not being strong enough to protect Lilliana! That’s why I left.” Suddenly, he dropped his head and stared at the dirt underneath our feet. “That’s why I left you and your pack. I couldn’t protect her.”
“Our pack,” I corrected, drawing my tongue across my canines, wanting to taste his blood. He had deserted us, abandoned us, left his friends and family. “You left our pack. You abandoned your packmates when we needed you the most.”
“My mate died in my fucking hands, Davix. And you’re pissed about me leaving?”
I wrapped my hand around his throat and slammed him against the tree hard enough for branches to fall. “I’m not pissed about you leaving. I’m pissed about you joining Braveclaw to get stronger when they were the ones who had sent that pack to kill your mate. And you were too blind to see it. And you’re still too fucking blind to see they don’t give a fuck about you!”
“You think I didn’t know that when I joined?!” he growled at me, his voice low. “You think I joined to get stronger? To follow that stupid fuck’s orders? They can’t do shit for me. I know that. But I needed to get on the inside. I needed to—”
My eyes widened slightly, but I didn’t give him the satisfaction of seeing me surprised. Who knew what his true intentions were? I sure as fuck didn’t. I’d thought we were best fucking friends, but he had lied about that too. Straight to my fucking face.
“What? What did you need to do? Because it looks like you just kiss his ass and do whatever the hell he asks you to do.” When he didn’t respond, I shoved him away, shook my head, and headed in the direction we had come.
Coming here had been a mistake, and I wasn’t going to waste any more time.
“Stay here, fucker. You’re not going to look for Ember. You have orders to follow. People to please. You don’t give a fuck about Ember.”
I shifted into my wolf and ran in the direction of Black Hollows. All he cared about was himself.
Chapter Forty-Eight
Ember
With crumbs of banana bread decorating my shirt, I changed the TV channel and yawned. Darkness flooded in from the windows, and I eyed the front door. It had been a few hours since I had woken up, and nobody had come home yet.
Where are they? Because I’m sure as hell not leaving this house again to find—
Before I could finish my thought, the front door swung open, and Pavel walked into the room, cursing up a storm. I turned back to the TV because he was not who I had wanted or expected to walk through the door first to see me.
“Fucking shit, where is—” Pavel stopped mid-sentence. “Where have you been?”
I glanced over at him and pointed to the couch. “Here.”
“No, I mean, where the fuck have you been?”
“I’ve been sitting here for the past two hours.”
“And all the fucking hours before that?” Pavel asked, shaking his head. “Where?”
“None of your business. How about that?”
“You weren’t home. You weren’t at Java. You weren’t at Davix’s.”
“What? You’re stalking me now?”
